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Providing straightforward information pertaining to drugs, drug use & drug policy. The Grey Pages promotes drug-related literacy and advocates a system of viable and tolerant drug policies. This is my personal collection of commentaries, essays, tid-bits, and other such writings on everything ranging from drug use, drug policy and drug-myths, to drug-science, addiction, human behavior, and the workings of the human brain. I started this blog with a particular focus on opioids, and over the past year have found my interest gravitate toward the intriguing, ever-changing world of designer intoxicants (i.e. "research chemicals" or "designer drugs").

Saturday, February 18, 2012

LSD Vault

LSDOther Names: LSD-25, Lucy, or Acid

LSD blotter designs

Basic:

Known chemically as lysergic-acid-diethylamide. LSD is a semi synthetic compound of the ergoline family. It is derived from ergot, a fungi of the Claviceps genus which commonly grows on rye and similar grains.

Characteristics:

Pure LSD occurs as a colorless, odorless, slightly bitter solid - as unbroken crystals or a crystalline powder. The drug is highly potent and is therefore usually highly diluted when sold at the retail level. At this level it is often distributed as a liquid solution - which may be applied to various absorbent materials suited for application on an inner surface of the mouth; such materials include sugar cubes, jello squares, or large sheets of an absorbent designer paper (which is lightly dippled into an LSD solution and subsequently cut into many single dose units known as blotters). LSD blotters are taken by applying and dissolving usually on the tounge. LSD containing liquid itself may also be administered as tiny drops under the tounge, eyelid, and elsewhere. LSD is sometimes available as a diluted powder, which is often compressed into a soluble tablet form. Both liquid and powder LSD can be, and have been, prepared for injection.

Pharmacology:

The origins of its psychoactive effects are quite complex, though they have been linked in part with its action on CNS serotonergic systems. This drug has been used for its entheogenic, psychedelic, recreational and psychotherapeutic properties. LSD, along with cannabis, was quite common with the 1960's counterculture movement.

Effects:

Major effects are experienced for about 4-6 hours. Other effects may last up to 12 hours.

In terms of its effects, LSD represents the prototypic psychedelic drug. Such compounds are, in popular terms, known as "hallucinogens"; however few of these compounds produce true hallucinations, at least not as portrayed in media and film. The popular tales of users being approached by "clowns" or "elephants" are merely inventions of pop culture, largely based in fiction rather than reality.

Common effects include:

Sensory enhancement

Physiological or psychological stimulation

Enhanced creative capacity

Synesthesia (seeing sounds, hearing colors)

Introspection

Enhanced spirituality

Positive or negative changes in mood

Potentiation of current emotions

Introspection or enhanced self awareness

Distorted sense of time

Altered speech

Paranoia, anxiety, fear or panic

Overwhelming emotional experience

Sensitivity to touch, smell, or noise

Psychological trauma & "flashbacks"

Physical tension

Hypothalamic dysregulation (thermal, secretions, pupillary)

Precipitation or potentiation of existing mental illness

Closed eye or open eye visuals - hallucinogens such as LSD don't cause hallucinations in the traditional sense of the word; rather than complex hallucinations, visuals from LSD may include trails of light, movement of objects, bizarre distortion of surroundings, enhancement of color and contrast, or strange patterns with closed eyes or in the dark.